2016 NYC Holden Cup

Watched the first trial last night against Parra.
Parra won 26 or 30 to 6.
Parra seemed to have two well drilled squads that shared time on the field.
Knights had a big squad and were trying players in many different roles, and I thought every time someone looked good for a while they were taken off.
Jake McNamara was the starting half and went well, but only played for the first quarter or so.
Very impressed with big prop Cam King. He is a big, solid unit with a good workrate and very tough player as well.
Little hooker Joey Morris had to play most of the game because the other hooker (islander kid in number 19) was injured after a few minutes. Morris looked really good, but he is pretty small.
I also liked the look of Viko Puliuvia - a really big prop who manages to be pretty mobile and athletic despite being 197cm tall. He needs to get a bit stronger for his size, but looks a great athlete.
Brayden Robson was used as a lock forward for some reason. He got away with it because he is very strong, but a short, thin 80kg middle defender was odd. He also did 5 minutes at dummy half and was terrible. His passing game from dummy half was the worst I've ever seen.

The other thing worth a mention, during the warm up you usually see the halves put in a few kicks and the wingers and fullback practice a few catches, but Scott Dureau put them through a really comprehensive session where the halves were kicking to the corners, both high and low, and the centres and wingers were practicing bat backs, leaps for the ball etc - while Dureau himself ran in grubbers for the fullbacks to scoop up on the run. It all looked very slick.

Robson playing lock again is interesting. He'll never be big enough to play as a forward in the seniors, and he is our best young centre, so I don't know why they are doing it. He is a good enough defender to get away with it.

The start of the 2016 season heralds fresh opportunity for the NYC Newcastle Knights with the Round 1 team comprising of some familiar faces as well trialling players who have impressed during the pre-season.

Former Knight Todd Lowrie is head coach of the Under 20s team and says the squad is in a good place after investing plenty of hard work over the pre-season.

“They’ve been going well, everyone has trained hard and has earned their spot,” he said.

“There are guys who are playing who were trialling over the pre-season and some of them have only just found out they are staying a couple of weeks ago and all of a sudden they have been named in Round 1 which is great."

Joe Morris is one of those players who arrived at the Club to trail for the Under 20s team and captured enough attention to earn a starting spot at hooker this weekend.

“He came in this year to have a crack and has been one of our standouts all pre-season,” Lowrie said.

“He’s one who has quite a big responsibility and hasn’t played at this level, but has been doing a good job so far."

Meanwhile halfback Jack Cogger will return to the team after competing fulltime pre-season training with the NRL squad.

“He’s one to keep an eye on,” Lowrie added.

The experience of the side’s returning players like Braden Robson, Matt Soper-Lawler, Tyrone Amey and Jack Cogger is set to be a valuable asset in the opening round match.

“I’ll be looking for those guys who have played before to calm us down and lead from the front,” Lowrie said.

The young Knights will exude plenty of enthusiasm in their long-awaited first hit-out against the Gold Coast Titans on Sunday.

“It’s a good way to start the year, to get away and head up to the Gold Coast together after a long pre-season,” he said.

“It will be good to get together as a team and focus on their footy."
Where it will be won: Sticking to the basics

“We have put some pretty simple things in place we are looking for the boys to do,” Lowrie said.

“It’s just about holding on to the footy and trying to do the little things right and not worry about the fancy stuff at this time of the year."

Imagine how good NYC would go if D Saifiti, J Saifiti, Brock Lamb, Tofilau and Uta were in the side. All those 5 have had a great start to the year in the higher grades and would be match winners in NYC.

Looking at the stats - nothing stands out.
prop Amey ran for 135 metres and made 19 tackles in 43 minutes - probably the best of the forwards.
centre Denniss had the best metres for the game with 156,
wingers soper-lawler and gudgeon both ran for under 100 metres, but had 3 line breaks and 5 tries between them.

Sat 12th March, 04:54PM
A tough second half saw the Newcastle Knights Under 20s lose 28-14 to the South Sydney Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

While the red and blues more held their own in the first half, they struggled to keep possession of the ball after the break and that led to the Rabbitohs scoring three unanswered tries.

There were two late changes to the side, with Sione Mata’utia playing at fullback on his return from suspension while Brock Lamb overcame a shoulder injury to start in the halves.

The Knights had all the early running, but it was Souths that scored first when winger Tom Perrin clamped down on a grubber in the corner. Five-eighth Chad O’Donnell did well to add the extras from the sideline.

Ten minutes later Souths added another two points to their tally when O’Donnell converted a penalty 20 metres out.

Soon after the Knights crossed over for their first points when Lamb found enough space to play Mata’utia through for an easy try.

Lamb was unable to convert, leaving the score at 8-4.

Minutes later the red and blues were over again, Mata’utia the playmaker this time as he sent a cut out ball to Nick Meaney on the wing. Lamb converted this time to put the Knights into the lead for the first time.

The Rabbitohs struck back soon after though, Perrin taking advantage of space to score his second in the left corner.

O’Donnell couldn’t convert from the sideline this time, and with three minutes left in the first half the Knights scored again when centre Cory Denniss dummied his way over the line.

A reshuffle at half time saw Meaney move to fullback with Mata’utia rested (18th man in NRL).

And while the Knights started the second half strongly, it was again Souths that scored first points when hooker Maia Sands dived beneath the uprights.

The Knights were struggling to carry the ball out of their own half now and five minutes later Souths extended their lead with Tevita Cottrell barging his way over on the left. O’Donnell converted to give his side a ten-point lead.

The Rabbitohs weren’t done yet though, with second rower Rory Lillis finding the try line soon after. O’Donnell didn’t convert, the final score line 28-14.